As used herein, the term “smoking article” includes any tobacco industry product and includes smokeable products such as cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos whether based on tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes and also heat-not-burn products.
Capsules can be incorporated into cigarettes and other smoking articles. For example, one or more breakable flavour capsules can be positioned inside the filter of a cigarette to allow a smoker to make a flavour selection before or during smoking. Generally speaking, the capsules are broken by squeezing the filter between finger and thumb to cause a flavour substance which was previously contained within the capsule to be released into the filter.
Equipment used to manufacture capsules for the tobacco industry includes, for example, a dual nozzle through which core material and shell material are fed simultaneously. The core and shell materials are supplied from separate containers, which are exclusively connected to the dual nozzle via separate feeds. A cooling fluid system, also exclusive to the dual nozzle, is used to cool a core/shell combination which exits the nozzles.
The invention provides an improved process and apparatus for manufacturing capsules.